Ring and Pinion availability

[StephenF]

I am planning on doing an axle swap on my '85 4x4. I have been mainly considering going 35 TTB and 8.8 and adding lockers. But I have been researching the parts and have found several axles, just not the desired ratio. I am willing and able to to change out the ring and pinions, but have noticed a lack of availability on them as well as lockers. Does anyone know a good source any of these?

I have also considers using Dana 60's with James Duff kits, but have also not had as much luck location used ones and afraid the other parts might be hard to find as well.

Any help is appreciated. I currently want to do 4.10/4.11 ratio, but would be willing to go 3.73 if it is more available.

 

[franklin2]

Here's one in Tenn but it has a 3.08 ratio.

1990 Rear Axle Assembly Ford Ranger

8.8' ring gear, ABS, 10' brakes, 3.08 ratio

68,477​

A​

120315

$Call​

Strange Auto Parts & Salvage USA-TN(White-Pine) Request_Quote 1-800-445-2091 Request_Insurance_Quote

I found only starting in 1993, that you could get a 8.8 factory with a 4.10 ratio.

Here's one in Tenn with 10 inch brakes The same place has the same stock number with 9 inch brakes, so who knows what size brake it has.

1993 Rear Axle Assembly Ford Ranger

8.8' ring gear, 10' brakes, 4.10 ratio,HAS ABS,RWD

​

X​

23J98692

$Call​

Manus Road Auto Salvage USA-TN(Murfreesboro) Request_Quote 615-848-7000 / 615-848-7009 Request_Insurance_Quote

Here's some dana 35 frontends in Tenn. They are the wrong ratio though. I don't see any 4.10 frontends being available factory for 1993.

1994 Front Axle Assembly Mazda Pickup Not Rotary B4000	CHK RAT,GOOD SHPE	186,415​	A​	22F007	$Call​	Tate's Auto Salvage USA-TN(Oak-Ridge) Request_Quote 1-865-482-5166 Request_Insurance_Quote	361​
1993 Front Axle Assembly Ford Ranger	Dana 35, w/o ABS; 3.27 ratio	98,000​	A​	201115	$Call​	M'Boro Auto Parts USA-TN(Murfreesboro) Request_Quote 1-615-895-9868 / 1-866-831-9868 Request_Insurance_Quote	470​
1994 Front Axle Assembly Ford Ranger	W/O ABS,DANA 35,3.27,	​	X​	REND	$225​	Bobby White Motors USA-TN(Columbia) Request_Quote 931-359-5080 / 931-359-1190 Request_Insurance_Quote

 

[Roert42]

Looks like summit has new sets in 4.11 for the 35, new sets for an 8.8 should be easy since it’s a very common rear.

 

[Shran]

4.10 gears for the D35 have been hard to find. Have to be careful with them because TTB gears (90-97) are different than SLA gears (98+) and Jeep used D35's as a rear axle but they were low pinion.

What size tires do you want to run? That will determine what gear ratio is appropriate.

I think I have a used set of D35 3.73's if you decided to go that route, they would be fine for stock size tires or a little bigger, up to 31's at most.

 

[StephenF]

4.10 gears for the D35 have been hard to find. Have to be careful with them because TTB gears (90-97) are different than SLA gears (98+) and Jeep used D35's as a rear axle but they were low pinion.

What size tires do you want to run? That will determine what gear ratio is appropriate.

I think I have a used set of D35 3.73's if you decided to go that route, they would be fine for stock size tires or a little bigger, up to 31's at most.

31's are the minimum I want to go. I'm probably going to start with 33's once everything is swapped. Since I just put new tires on it, it will be a bit before I change them unless I end up getting the '84 2wd going and use them on it.

 

[00t444e]

Lockers for the 8.8 and Dana 35 are both plentiful and easy to find, gears for the 8.8 are easy to find, the Dana 35 is a little tougher to find gears for but Rock Auto has them in 4.10 and 4.56 ratios right now. If you are going with 33s I would do 4.56 gears.

 

[Shran]

Gotcha - I would probably run 4.88's at a minimum then. I believe that would be a good compromise with 33's, a manual & a 2.8... if you are ever considering tires bigger than 33's, I would probably just go straight to 5.13's right off the bat. They will hurt your top speed but I suspect you won't be doing a lot of high speed highway cruising anyway, right?

3.73's would be horrible in that truck on 33's, 4.10's would be slightly better but still a turd. I've got 4.10's in two 4.0 powered trucks on 30's & 31's and it's just about right...but I have a lot more HP.

 

[Josh B]

Dang Shran, you just reminded me of some guy who built almost anything into 4WD when I was living in Lead-Deadwood area and working in the Homestake Mine.
He had 4WD Corvette, El Camino, Camaro, I guess anything anybody wanted he'd make into a 4WD, this was mid 70s

 

[Shran]

Dang Shran, you just reminded me of some guy who built almost anything into 4WD when I was living in Lead-Deadwood area and working in the Homestake Mine.
He had 4WD Corvette, El Camino, Camaro, I guess anything anybody wanted he'd make into a 4WD, this was mid 70s

Haha, crazy, I am pretty sure I have heard stories of that guy from some of the old timers in my 4wd club. Specifically the El Camino.

Small world, I know quite a few people who worked there. It closed in 2001 but they have an underground neutrino lab there now and are doing some other science project - pretty cool how they disassembled & moved stuff underground.

 

[Josh B]

That's true Shran, they had diesel front end loaders down there
When I was there in 76-77 they had more miles of track underground at the mine than was above ground in the whole state
Not only that, their power station was the town's electric company, their water plant was the towns water supply, and their college was the local college
Nobody owned land there it all belonged to the mine and they'd get a 99 year lease
The mine's hospital was the town's hospital

I had some friends who went there on vacation cruising on a bike and took a lot of pictures, they had about destroyed any signs of the mine but a few old giant mill tumbler supports

 

[Shran]

Yeah a lot has been torn down but there’s a lot of Homestake left - Kirk power plant is gone but the slime plant in Deadwood is a pretty cool hotel now and a lot of the infrastructure is still in use for the lab. The other mining companies are almost all gone though… Wharf is the only one left and I think they only have maybe 10 years of ore left.

 

[StephenF]

I am putting a 300 in place of the 2.8L. So turning them shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Roert42]

I am putting a 300 in place of the 2.8L. So turning them shouldn't be an issue.

Finally, someone with half a brain cell around this place.

You've got me excited.

 

[StephenF]

Finally, someone with half a brain cell around this place.

You've got me excited.

Should be picking up the engine Saturday. Then I just need to clean up my work area so I can pull the 2.8L out and see what I need to do to make it fit.

 

[Blmpkn]

A good bit of clearancing is gonna be needed with the firewall and trans tunnel iirc.. sweet project though definitely looking forward to it.